I heart hiroshima at the brisbane powerhouse

Story and Photos by Kristian Hollins

Midway through their second set of the day, punctuating a break between songs, Matthew Somer’s, lead guitarist and vocalist for Brisbane’s own indie pop trio, I Heart Hiroshima, runs to one side of the stage and, leaning over, hidden from the audience behind a large amp, hocks and spits down into unused stage space.

“Gaaah! Put it in a cup,” responds Susie Patten, the band’s drummer and lead vocalist, as Cam, the backing guitarist and vocalist, stands by, a bemused expression written in the small smile playing over his features.

It’s clear from the get-go that I Heart Hiroshima love being around music.  With no roadies in sight, and only the venue’s two sound engineers providing technical support, the band sets up their own gear, tunes up, and begins to play. Their obvious comfort at playing gigs stems from a pedigree of live shows, and is illustrated by the constant banter between band members, as well as talking to the crowd. They breeze through their first set of the evening, playing most of their first album, 2007’s Tuff Teef, barely even breaking stride when skipping a song due to Matt’s ‘sickness’ – a lofty hangover from the night before.

The show, held in Brisbane’s iconic Powerhouse Theatre, is the last before the band takes an extended hiatus. “I’m moving to the US for three months, and then to Berlin,” says Susie.

It comes at the end of a hectic few years for the band, producing two albums and four EPs, touring internationally and extensively playing live shows all over Australia.

“People get more excited over there,” says Matt, referring to the bands time spent touring in support of The Rakes. “I think the fact that we come from Australia, it’s like a band coming from Antarctica or something ridiculous, so they have to go check it out.“

Most recently, I Heart Hiroshima played at the Gold Coast Big Day Out festival. “It was awesome to be able to play it,” says Susie, “playing was good. It was everything else that sucked.”

“Yeah, battling through the throngs of …”, Cam’s sentence remains unfinished. Big Day Out festivals have, in recent years, been associated with aspects of ‘bogan’ culture: the Australian flags and Southern Cross tattoos sported by fluro clothing wearing attendees who pack hundred metre long bar lines to buy overpriced beer in an effort to avoid seeing bands they haven’t heard on B105.

“All of the music industry is commercialised, more so than a few years ago, I think,” says Matt. “All the main kind of alternative things like festivals…it’s just all changed now, you know?”

“It’s just a horrible festival,” says Susie.

The timing of the hiatus seems to be coming at a strange time, with the band enjoying some success in both indie circles and in mainstream media. Buoyed by the success of a free iTunes release, “Shakeytown”, the first single from the new album ‘The Rip’, won the coveted first position in Brisbane radio station 4ZzZ’s hottest 100 of 2009. The band also placed fourth for their cover of The Chills’ “Pink Frost”.

But the band plays down the “unexpected” result. “4ZzZ is really Brisbane-band focused, so it’s not a massive deal, but it was really awesome to be recognised,” says Matt.

The I Heart Hiroshima story is however, a story of Brisbane. The original line up, including Matt and Susie, as well as another guitarist, Mel, were friends. They had decided to play together at a party.

The name “sounded nice on a Sunday”, says Susie, “It just kind of popped into my head and I thought it sounded nice when you said it. We needed a band name very quickly.”

“We had a show two days later and they were making a poster,” Matt adds.

“I came on board a bit later”, say Cam, “I wasn’t invited to that party.”

Susie and Cam had attended the same high school years ago, but were two grades apart and moved in different circles. “We knew each other…we eyeballed,” says Susie with a smile. It was only later, after Mel had left the group, that Cam joined and the current line up was born.

The film clip to the “Shakeytown” single, directed by local filmmaker Paul W. Rankin, features iconic footage of Brisbane including the city’s infamous Riverside Expressway. The clip was picked up by the ABC’s music show ‘Rage’, as the ‘Indie clip of the week’.

But the band says the geographic themes are unintentional. “It just comes through,” says Matt.

The group are open-minded with their own choice of venue when listening to music. “You can’t be choosey in Brisbane. If something is on, you just go where it is,” says Susie.

“There are some good bands coming out of Brisbane,” adds Cam.

In four years of playing, I Heart Hiroshima put together an extraordinary number of tracks. “It’s generally just the guitars, then the drums, then whoever thinks of something first just starts singing,” says Matt. “A lot of the time, we don’t make up lyrics until we’re recording.

“It’s the only way. Anything else would be too hard.”

Back in the Powerhouse, a huge number of friends have turned up for the rare occasion of I Heart Hiroshima playing a Brisbane show. “It’s weird playing to my parents,” says Cam, “They’re coming today.”

With the number of people at the Brisbane Powerhouse show, it’s safe to say that I Heart Hiroshima will be sorely missed, and with the raw energy, musical talent, and unique sound exploding off the stage, the band will be one to watch when they return to the scene.

Check out I Heart Hiroshima on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/ihearthiroshima

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